Backgammon History

The ancient Egyptian game "senet" resembled backgammon with moves controlled by the roll of dice.
However, the Game of kings of Ur, played in ancient Mesopotamia, is a more likely ancestor of modern
day table games. Scientists in Iran have shown that similar games existed there around 2900 BC.
The artifacts include two dice and 60 checkers, and the set is believed to be 150 to 200 years older
than the sets found in Ur.

The ancient Romans played a number of games remarkably similar to backgammon. "Game of twelve lines" used a
board with three rows of 12 points in each row, and the checkers were moved across all three rows according
to the roll of dice. Little specific text about the game has survived. Tabula, meaning "table" or "board",
was a game mentioned in an epigram of Byzantine Emperor Zeno. It was similar to modern backgammon in that the
object of the game was to be the first to bear off all of one's checkers. Players threw three dice and moved
their checkers in opposing directions on a board of 24 points.

In the 11th century the Persian poet Ferdowsi credits Burzoe with the invention of the tables game nard.
He describes an encounter between Burzoe and a Raja visiting from India. The Raja introduces the game of chess,
and Burzoe demonstrates nard, played with dice made from ivory and teak. Today, Nard is the name for the Persian
version of backgammon, which has different initial positions and objectives.

The modern backgammon first appeared in France during the 11th century and became a favorite pastime of gamblers.
In 1254, Louis IX issued a decree prohibiting his court officials and subjects from playing.
Tables games were played in Germany in the 12th century, and had reached Iceland by the 13th century.
By the 17th century, tables games had spread to Sweden. A wooden board and checkers were recovered from the
wreck of the Vasa among the belongings of the ship's officers. Backgammon appears widely in paintings of this
period, mainly those of Dutch and German painters. One surviving artwork is "Cardsharps" by Caravaggio (the backgammon
board is in the lower left). Others are the Hell of Bosch and interior of an Inn by Jan Steen.
Today you can plat online backgammon (online skill games) for money.